You should be aware that there is a French-based European movement that is gaining considerable strength that calls for massive, coordinated bank withdrawals across the continent on December 7. It's an attempt at a modern, crowd-sourced bank run.

Eric Cantona quoted:

"We have to change the way we do things nowadays. Talking of revolution, I don't mean we are going to pick up guns and go out to kill people. Revolution is very simple to do nowadays"

"What's the system? The system revolves around banks. The system is built on the banks' power. So it can be destroyed by the banks. Instead of having three million people going out to demonstrate with a placard, those three million people go to their bank branch, they withdraw their money and the banks crumble." He directed people: "You go to your bank in your village and you withdraw your money."

Last Wednesday was a hinge point in history. The United States decided to drop all pretence of being interested in leading – or even being part of – a coordinated global policy response to the most serious economic crisis in more than 70 years.

Five years ago NPR reported Chinese hackers had made ’80,000 attempts’ to hack the Pentagon’s 5 million computers.

NPR:

Mr. ALLEN PALLER (SANS Institute): In one evening, at about 10:23 at night Pacific time, they found vulnerabilities in the US Army Information Systems Engineering Command at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. Three hours later, they found the same hole in computers at the Defense Information Systems Agency in Arlington. A little more than two hours later, they hit the Naval Ocean Systems Center(ph), a Defense Department installation in San Diego. And an hour and a half later, they hit the United States Army Space & Strategic Defense installation in Huntsville.

O’HARA: Cyberanalysts who followed the investigation of Tighten Reign say that among the massive amounts of data that the hackers penetrated were detailed specifications on the Mars lander as well as information about satellite and missile technology and about US troop deployments. One of the original investigators of Tighten Reign, who asked not to be identified to preserve his job, confirms that account. Allen Paller of the SANS Institute says the damage was serious.

September 8, 2007, The Times Online:

Chinese military hackers have prepared a detailed plan to disable America’s aircraft battle carrier fleet with a devastating cyber attack, according to a Pentagon report obtained by The Times.

The blueprint for such an assault, drawn up by two hackers working for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), is part of an aggressive push by Beijing to achieve “electronic dominance” over each of its global rivals by 2050, particularly the US, Britain, Russia and South Korea.

China’s ambitions extend to crippling an enemy’s financial, military and communications capabilities early in a conflict, according to military documents and generals’ speeches that are being analysed by US intelligence officials. Describing what is in effect a new arms race, a Pentagon assessment states that China’s military regards offensive computer operations as “critical to seize the initiative” in the first stage of a war.

March 4, 2008, LA Times, Chinese hacking worries Pentagon:

WASHINGTON — China in the last year has developed ways to infiltrate and manipulate computer networks around the world in what U.S. defense officials conclude is a new and potentially dangerous military capability, according to a Pentagon report issued Monday.

Computer network intrusions at the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies, think tanks and government contractors last year “appeared to originate” in China, according to the report.

WASHINGTON — Computer spies have broken into the Pentagon’s $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project — the Defense Department’s costliest weapons program ever — according to current and former government officials familiar with the attacks.

Similar incidents have also breached the Air Force’s air-traffic-control system in recent months, these people say. In the case of the fighter-jet program, the intruders were able to copy and siphon off several terabytes of data related to design and electronics systems, officials say, potentially making it easier to defend against the craft.

On Saturday morning, according to people briefed on what happened, a squadron of ICBMs suddenly dropped down into what’s known as “LF Down” status, meaning that the missileers in their bunkers could no longer communicate with the missiles themselves. LF Down status also means that various security protocols built into the missile delivery system, like intrusion alarms and warhead separation alarms, were offline. In LF Down status, the missiles are still technically launch-able, but they can only be controlled by an airborne command and control platform like the Boeing E-6 NAOC “Kneecap” aircraft, E-4B NAOC aircraft or perhaps the TACAMO fleet, which is primarily used to communicate with nuclear submarines. Had the country been placed on a higher state of nuclear alert, those platforms would be operating automatically because the frequencies used to transmit nuclear codes would be interfacing with separate systems, according to officials.

On October 27th, the report of ‘No Foul Play’.

The Indy Channel:

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Work has begun to try to replicate an electronics glitch and determine what disrupted communication between 50 nuclear missiles and a launch control center at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, a U.S. Air Force official said Wednesday.

Teams from F.E. Warren and Hill Air Force Base in Utah think they’ve isolated the faulty part where the problem occurred, said Lt. Col. John Thomas, spokesman for the U.S. Air Force Global Strike Command.

“It could be the part, it could be the way that it was installed, it could be the way that it was queried,” Thomas said.

And,

The suspected problem part is small enough to hold in your hand, Thomas said.

“That’s where our primary weight of effort is. But we are also not ruling anything out and we are looking at anything that may have contributed to it,” he said.

One wonders if part of the investigation involved ruling out Chinese hackers?

California Missile Launch, Act of Chinese Cyberwar or DOD Accident?

September 6, 3007, Washington Post, In Error, B-52 Flew Over U.S. With Nuclear-Armed Missiles:

An Air Force B-52 bomber flew across the central United States last week with six cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads that were mistakenly attached to the airplane’s wing, defense officials said yesterday.

The Stratofortress bomber, based at Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, was transporting a dozen Advanced Cruise Missiles to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana on Aug. 30. But crews inadvertently loaded half of them with nuclear warheads attached.

Air Force officials said the warheads were not activated and at no time posed a threat to the public. But a timeline of the episode supplied by the Air Force yesterday to House and Senate lawmakers indicated that the missiles in question sat on a runway in Louisiana for nearly 10 hours before workers noticed that the nuclear warheads were inside.

The incident occurred August 30, 2007. The press didn’t report the incident until September 6th.

What’s important to note about the California missile incident is the both the initial response from the DOD and the non-definitive explanation after a 36-hour ‘investigation’, the ‘most likely an aircraft’ account.

CNN:

Col. Dave Lapan, a spokesman for the Pentagon, said later Tuesday that while there is no evidence that the contrail was left by a missile the department is still investigating.

No Defense Department units reported launches at the time. The North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command did not report any foreign missile launches off the California coast, Lapan added. Regardless, there was no threat to the United States, he said.

……

Lapan said that various agencies are trying to find out what happened.

“I don’t know specifically what they are all doing. I just know they have been pinged and that we are talking to the FAA, we are talking to other parts of the U.S. government. We are trying to do everything we can to figure out if anybody has any knowledge of what this event may have been,” Lapan said in off-camera comments to journalists.

“So far we have come up empty,” he added.

The response from the DOD, an email which didn’t state definitively the object was an aircraft, didn’t state what type of aircraft it was, or the actual flight of the aircraft.

FOX News:

“With all the information that we have gathered over the last day and a half about this condensation trail off the coast of southern California on Monday night, both within the DoD and other U.S. government agencies, we have no information to suggest this was anything other than a contrail caused by an aircraft,” said Col. David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman.

“As stated yesterday, NORAD and USNORTHCOM determined that there was no threat to the U.S. homeland.”

Lapan said that in the mind of the DoD this case is closed.

Lapan said the government looked at lots of data sources other than the CBS news tape. He would not get into the details of what those data sources were, but said that evidence helped determine this was most likely an aircraft. But most importantly, it was the response from all other government agencies saying they did not launch anything that convinced them this was likely an aircraft.

"maybe the chinese hackers just wanted us to know they were still in charge... "

Exactly (and I do hope that this is not true), but the people will aid China's cause by rushing out and buying all kinds of Chinese goods come black Friday. And Socializing losses, and privatizing profits, while the resources of the world are quitely bought up.

On topic: a run ut it might on the banks will cause a worldwide crisis, but it might just be the solution to get rid of the international bankers. Though such action may result in an economical collaps, and would cause a lot of femin in the world. It would be bether to have an alternative firts, and do the run on these legal criminals ruining our daily lives..

Looks like Dec. 7 will be a bank holiday. Anybody hear any more about that rocket off the coast of California?

Just in today..............ANOTHER GOVERNMENT COVER-UP!!!

WILL IT EVER END???

Sliding silently under the mud, muck and fog of national politics, is a current event that makes Bill Clinton's excursion into the world of elderly sex look tame in comparison. This time the nation's national security is truly threatened in my opinion, and it involves not only a weak President with limited problem-solving ability, but leadership at the highest levels in the Pentagon as well. The American people would do well to demand a full investigation by an unbiased group, and let the chips fall where they may. I am referring to the "missile shot" taken of California coast recently, and the lame response by NORAD, the Pentagon and the White House itself.

First, in hope of adding some creditability to my assessment of what really happened just off the coast of Los Angeles let me convey a bit of my background which can be checked easily by going to Google and typing in my name. An Air Force biography will appear.

During the late eighties I was assigned to NORAD, as a Command Director initially and later as the assistant Director of Operations for NORAD. The NORAD operation was located inside the Cheyenne Mountain complex just outside Colorado Springs, Colorado. Twenty four hours a day a team of approximately 150 highly trained individuals, lead by a Brigadier General, monitored one of the most sophticated computer systems in the world. This system was fed data from many different sensors that were able to detect missile shots from any point on the globe. All this data was taken into consideration when making the "assessment" as whether or not North America and/or Canada were threatened by such a launch. If the launch was assessed as a true threat, the President was contacted immediately by NORAD through a military individual always close to the President who carried what we called, "the football", a black brief case with release codes for our nuclear forces. I know the system well, as for near three years I led one of those teams.

In addition, for over 25 years, I flew US Air Force fighters to include the F-106, F-4, F-15, F-16, and commanded an F-15 Squadron and an F-16 Wing. The sole purpose of the F-106 assignment was to maintain an ability to become airborne in minutes to intercept inbound bombers posing a threat to the US mainland. Untold hours were spent studying and being tested on visually identifying an air-to-air threat to include its type and threat potential. I understand the difference in an aircraft contrail and a missile launch contrail.

In my opinion there is absolutely no doubt that what was captured on video off the coast of California was a missile launch, was clearly observed by NORAD, assessed by a four-star General in minutes, and passed to the President immediately. That is the way the system works, and heads fall if there is a failure. This is one of the most important tenets of National Defense and its sole purpose of protecting the American people. Even the smallest failure in this system gets intense scrutiny at the highest level.

Now, the question that still must be answered is why NORAD's muted response was simply that North America was not threatened, and later our government approved the lame excuse that the picture recorded was simply an aircraft leaving a contrail. This decision was made far above the four-star level, and because the system in place demands it, was made by the President himself.

There are many possible answers to the question why. Normally, when a situation of this nature occurs the decision makers in Washington feel it would create panic among the mere mortals who go to work every day. To avoid shocking the population the truth is shaded, or sometimes just kept quite in hope it will just go away. I would say to our government officials who disregard the intelligence of the American people, be careful. The people are awakening, and their trust in our government is fading. This level of decision making will hasten that process.

In my opinion we must question the timing of this shot across our bow. The President was abroad being diplomatic, which means trying to placate China which is becoming overly concerned with our handling a totally out of control deficient in spending. They do not want our debt to them be paid in cheapened US dollars, and it appears that our current plan is to do just that. China is devoting a major portion of their GDP to defense spending, and what better time to show the US that they can slip a missile equipped submarine through the South Pacific undetected right up to one of our largest cities, than right now. And, the Chinese have the guts to do it.

Important in my opinion is that once again the leader of this nation chose to disguise the truth and keep the American people in the dark on an issue that constitutes a major threat to the entire population of the United States of America. This is no longer a threat to only our military thousands of miles from the homeland. This is a show of force sending a signal that downtown USA is now capably of being hit by an undetected submarine and at any time. It may very well be the beginning of the real power struggle between the United States and China. If so, I predict the next phase will be China's demand for the US to cease support of Taiwan, and so it goes.

President Obama is getting in over his head once again on this one. Hiding the severity of issues we face with China to include this possible signal of strength is a terrible mistake. It is happening at a time that our Secretary of Defense, under the guidance of the President, is literally gutting our military forces. We have seen it already when the F-22 buy was cut from over 600 aircraft to 187, and research and development for follow on systems severely reduced. This is but one of hundreds of examples of military reductions. I fear that this could be another reason for this cover-up. If the American people fully realized the severity of the threat they might demand restoring our military to face the growing threat from China and Russia, as opposed to the massive domestic spending that we have witnessed over the past two years.

So, where does this leave us? Again, the people must decide and place pressure on the government to insure that our National Security remains intact. Military strength prevents war. Military weakness invites not only war, but also a lack of deterrence for intervention and bullying on many fronts.

If there was ever a time for the people to look closely at the national leadership and demand honesty and integrity, it is now. This is not a Democrat or Republican issue. At issue is electing those who have the ability to make proper decisions for our country, and will do so with no regard to their own personal gain. It is time to elect a President and a Congress who will put country above self, and defend this great nation against all enemies, foreign or domestic, and above all be honest with the people who honored them with election to high office.

France is bracing for Eric Cantona's bank-run revolution Tuesday, with the government criticising his call for the public to stage a mass cash-withdrawal and the left questioning whether it would have much effect.

When the former Manchester United footballer gave a video interview in October calling on citizens to stage a cash-point revolution, protest groups against the financial system decided to coordinate a world-wide withdrawal on December 7, the number of Cantona's lucky shirt.

Bank of Ireland confirms that an unforeseen technical issue has impacted some of our operating systems this morning and our telephone and online banking services are currently unavailable. However, all branches are open and operating as normal but with a temporary restricted cash service. All ATMs are operating normally but with a restricted cash service for Bank of Ireland cardholders. Some customers may be unable to conduct point-of-sale transactions but Bank of Ireland credit card transactions are unaffected. We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience they are experiencing and wish to assure them that we are working with our IT partners to ensure that all services are reinstated as a priority.

"It all began in the early part of the 20th century. In 1907, J.P. Morgan, a private New York banker, published a rumor that a competing unnamed large bank was about to fail. It was a false charge but customers nonetheless raced to their banks to withdraw their money, in case it was their bank. As they pulled out their funds, the banks lost their cash deposits and were forced to call in their loans. People therefore had to pay back their mortgages to fill the banks with income, going bankrupt in the process. The 1907 panic resulted in a crash that prompted the creation of the Federal Reserve, a private banking cartel with the veneer of an independent government organization. Effectively, it was a coup by elite bankers in order to control the industry."

What makes you think I have a solution? There are ways to try to protect yourself from any coming storm but they depend on age, state of health, whether you have a family or not, your wealth, your country or origin/language skills ....

And there are no guarantees. We could fall into financial collapse or have a spectacular recovery which would astound many financial pundits. (It's happened before.)

The Middle East wars could become more virulent and/or new wars could start in other places in the world.

Or peace could break out everywhere.

I don't specialize in solutions. I leave that to the politicians, professional economists and other ambitious people. I'm lucky enough to be able sit on the sidelines and poke fun at their stupid, ineffectual and hypocritical antics, of course, which I enjoy doing.

But I actually feel sorry for the bastards because it's their job to come up with something even if they usually don't have a clue and that's not an envious position to be in.

From the beginning of the Republic the oligarchy has pushed down both the middle class and the masses.

In the past thirty years the problem has grown much worse. Many books have described it in minute detail. The older books are just as good as the newer ones but not as topical and therefore as interesting to most.

The last thirty years has been particularly gruesome James in that pushing down effect (thank the business roundtable). I Think all CEO's should have to read this one James, and then search their souls if they still have one. Coming out of the Depression, business schools were formed and "enlightened management" became a phrase business adhered to, perhaps we should return to it if America is to be saved. It is time to Stop the extremely aggressive, felonious assault by the Robber Barons.

Compensation of the guys at the top is such that they are not thinking of the long term effects of their decisions which will result in the destruction of America verses their short term personal ambitions.